Monthly Archives: May 2008

Lake Champlain has a line of four organic bars that they sent me to taste — Milk Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, Milk Chocolate Sea Salt and Almonds and Dark Spicy Aztec. The bars are 1.25oz. each — a really nice size and break into 6 little rectangles. All bars were nicely tempered and broke with a lovely snap.

I have to say that I really enjoyed these bars! All were rich and creamy, melting wonderfully on the tongue. Here’s a bit of what I thought about each one:

Milk Chocolate — At 34% cacao, this was a very sweet bar — creamy and smooth. There was a lovely caramelized flavor to the chocolate that won me over. I tasted a hint of salt and a rich baked chocolate flavor like a decadent brownie.

Milk Chocolate with Sea Salt and Almonds — My absolute favorite of the bunch! I love chocolate and salt and this was a perfect combination of the two — the caramel flavor in the chocolate and the salt played perfectly with one another and the almonds added a bit of texture and a fresh crunch. I could eat one of these bars every day!

Dark Chocolate — Much like the milk chocolate, but with a deeper flavor. Another winner.

Dark Spicy Aztec — With 55% cacao, this still had enough sugar to help offset the heat from the cayenne pepper. There was a bit more graininess here, most likely from the addition of the spices, but it was still quite smooth and rich. I’m not a fan of cayenne in my chocolate, but I liked the cinnamon and really enjoyed the crunchy little pumpkin seeds that were added. If you like spice in your chocolate, this is the bar for you!

As I said, I really enjoyed these bars and if I’m in the mood for milk chocolate, this is they company I would look to in the future. You can find out more and order chocolate through their website.

Chocolate Blog welcomes its first sponsor — Custom Chocolate Company! They will make up custom chocolate pieces for you with your own message or logo (I’m thinking cute wedding favors here) and package each piece in its own little box. And they use real chocolate too — from Callebaut — in milk, dark and white. Visit their website to see more examples of what they can do.

The Seeds of Change Playa del Coco bar is an organic, 61% cacao chocolate bar with coconut. Upon opening the package, there is an overwhelming smell of coconut. The bar was well tempered and had a nice snap — quite pretty. It melted easily on the tongue and was very smooth until you reached the coconut which gave the bar a nice crunch and bit of texture. Overall I really liked this bar, however I believe the coconut was a bit overdone. The ingredient list shows that there is added coconut extract — I think perhaps this could have been left out to great effect.

I purchased my bar at Whole Foods, and they appear to be widely available. More information as well as retail locations can be found at the Seeds of Change website.